New York Yankees versus the other super six, win-now teams

The Houston Astros

There can be no more win-now team than the ‘Stros as it is the current WS champion. And there is perhaps, even more, to like about the 2018 version than there was about the 2017 one.

Starting pitching is stronger heading into this season, as their first five (along with last season’s ERAs) are Justin Verlander (3.36), Dallas Keuchel (2.90), Lance McCullers (4.25), Charlie Morton (3.62) and newly-acquired Gerrit Cole (4.26).

The bullpen is beefed up a bit with the additions of Joe Smith and Hector Rondon, as well as by a more substantial role for Brad Peacock. And having closer Ken Giles (2.30) at the back end solidifies the entire staff.

On the other side of the ball is an offense that dominated baseball. Houston led all teams in average, on-base and slugging (.282/.346/.478). But what makes the Astros so exciting is that their success was created overwhelmingly by their young hitters.

The soon-to-be 28-year-old second baseman Jose Altuve is one of the best players in baseball (.346/.410/547); his 2017 MVP award speaks for itself. Not to be outshined is his 23-year old teammate SS Carlos Correa (.315/.391/.550) or OF George Springer and the 27-year old’s team-leading 34 home runs.

But the regular season is only half of the story. While the Red Sox are still hoping to see production from their young stars in the playoffs, these boys have already won a WS.

That’s the good news. Now for some cautionary notes, and we’ll start again with the pitching.

If You Mean You Age Like a Fine Wine, You Don’t

Verlander is 35 and might start to show his age before this campaign is through. Especially as he threw 227 innings two years ago and a regular and postseason combined 243 last year.

That will take a toll at some point; whether that is this year remains to be seen.

Morton is no spring chicken at 34, and he, McCullers and Keuchel all failed to put up more than 147 innings last year; Lance finished with just 119. Cole, meanwhile, did his work in the NL, so seeing a rise in his ERA would not be unusual.

And if all of that means Peacock is needed as a sixth starter, the bullpen looks a little lighter.

However, the positives vastly outweigh the negatives. The Astros won the WS then went out and added a significant starter to the rotation, for depth if nothing else. Both the players and the fans have to love that move.

And some of the players are still young enough to improve, although it is hard to imagine Altuve getting better.

Champions in the Best Sense

But best of all has been the team’s attitude in camp. Like all reigning champs, the players have talked about wanting to repeat and still being hungry; their repeated jabs at the Cubs have been meant as self-motivation.

Their actions, however, have matched their words. The Astros have played with heart and hustle since the first spring training game, and look as hungry and gritty as if they had lost the series. It is tough to repeat, but the Astros look like the toughest out in baseball.

Now back to those Cubs…

The Chicago Cubs

All that shade being projected on the Cubs by Houston was about last year’s team and rightly so.

However, they have restocked a bit, and the north side is now looking for another title.

First, they swapped out the declining but still dangerous Jake Arrieta for the younger, still-in-his-prime Yu Darvish. That alone could make all the difference both during the season and beyond.

Despite his World Series, tip-pitching meltdown, Darvish was dynamic in the playoffs. His NLDS (1.80) and NLCS (1.42) ERA’s are proof of that.

And his addition to the staff of Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jose Quintana, and Tyler Chatwood has manager Joe Maddon making bold predictions, as reported by Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune:

To surpass the Cubs’ starting pitchers of 2016 as manager Joe Maddon’s best rotation, the current crop at least must match that group’s 81 victories while compiling a 2.96 ERA. The addition of Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood at the front and back ends of the 2018 rotation, however, prompted Maddon to declare five weeks ago that this is his best starting five since taking over as in 2015. “That’s my scouting part of it,” said Maddon. “ (Jon) Lester is going to be stronger, Kyle has another year under his belt, (Jose) Quintana is with us for a full season, Chatwood is going to be very good on sea level (after pitching in high altitude for the Rockies), and then you add Yu Darvish. “I just think (the overall) stuff is better — that’s what it comes down to.”

The Front and the Back

Not content to bolster the starting rotation, they also added closer Brandon Morrow, most recently with the Dodgers and late-inning reliever Steve Cishek, who finished 2017 with the Rays.

Chicago might finish the season with the NL’s best starting and relief staffs. If that happens, the Cubbies are going to have a great year — especially as the offense has AL-quality firepower in its belly.

How Good Can Kyle Schwarber Be?

First baseman Anthony Rizzo is 28 and now entering his prime. As a preview, he hit .273/.392/.507 with 32 home runs last year, which paired nicely with 26-year old C Wilson Contreras and his line of .276/.356/.499 and 21 home runs

And of course, leading them all was 3B Kris Bryant. His slash of .295/.409/.537 with 29 home runs and 38 doubles reveal a player who controls the strike zone with power.

But the scariest aspect of Chicago’s offense is that left-fielder Kyle Schwarber might be about to fulfill a lot of prophecies.

While it is true that Schwarber was second on the team with 30 home runs last year in only 422 AB’s (it took Bryant 549 AB’s to get his 29 HR), his line shows an all-or-nothing hitter: .211/.315/.467.

Less is More

This year, though, Kyle entered camp with a new approach to his weight and his hitting. Again, the always optimistic Maddon likes what he sees. This comes to us from a different article by Mr. Gonzales and the Trib:

Schwarber, who lost at least 30 pounds in the offseason, didn’t hesitate as he rounded first and second base and showed no signs of fatigue as he pulled into third base. “I think (his swing) is more under control – more hands, less arms,” Maddon said. “With that, he’s doing it easier. I thought there was more body involvement, just a more grinding approach, and it’s eased up a bit. That’s what we’re seeing, and better adjustments with two strikes. Schwarber is hitting .361 with three doubles, one triple, three home runs, five walks and a .439 on-base percentage this spring.

If Schwarber can add discipline and some speed to his prodigious power, the Cubs might outhit and outpitch their competition. And their roster looks to be set for the next couple of years as well, so this is a team built to win now and for a while.

Meanwhile, in LA, another team built to win for a while might be a bit more vulnerable in 2018.

The Los Angeles Dodgers

One sign of how a team will do the year after a long playoff run is how the front office responds in the off-season. But whereas some teams like the Cubs, Astros, and Yankees added players, the Dodgers subtracted.

That does not bode well.

Because, while it is true that ridding themselves of LHP Scott Kazmir and 1B Adrian Gonzalez was addition by subtraction, they also traded away RHP Brandon McCarthy and lost their aforementioned set-up-man-turned closer, Morrow, to the Cubs.

And, as noted, mid-season acquisition Darvish. Those are two big losses to the pitching staff.

The team had hoped to have 21-year old, much-hyped LHP Julio Urias firmly entrenched in the rotation by now, but shoulder surgery has him out until at least after mid-season.

Meanwhile, RHP Walker Buehler will be limited to roughly 145 innings, which keeps him off the club possibly until June or even July, when he will turn 24. But he still has to prove himself in the majors, so his addition is no guaranteed panacea for the pitching staff.

However, that does not mean the team is not loaded with talent. But it does make the Dodgers look a little top heavy.

As Kershaw Goes, So Go the Dodgers

For instance, the pitching staff might be thin, but it is still led by the best pitcher in baseball, LHP Clayton Kershaw.

The man has three Cy Youngs and an MVP. And last year he led the NL in ERA (2.31) for the fifth time in the previous eight seasons. He finished second in the CY last year only because he missed time with injury.

What is intriguing is his age: at 30 he is ostensibly in his prime. But pitchers are hard to project.

Clayton averaged over 200 innings for seven straight years starting when he was 21 but has been injured for parts of the last two seasons. He rebounded back from his 149 IP in 2016 to put up 175 last year.

So, is he on his way back to being a 200-inning pitcher? Or is he starting to break down? Those are valid questions, but Clayton is still most likely to have another outstanding season, injury-shortened or not.

Fortunately for the Dodgers, that is the same outlook for the rest of this thin staff.

Greinke is Long Gone

LHP Alex Wood went from excellent number two in 2016 to Co-Ace with his 2.72 ERA last year. But the 27-year old will probably return to what he was for the previous four seasons: A very good pitcher with an ERA above 3.50.

But at least his outlook is still very promising.

RHP Kenta Maeda got markedly worse in his second season stateside, regressing from his 2016 ERA of 3.48 to a 4.22 last season. Another similar regression would be a significant factor for the Dodgers.

Meanwhile, on-again, off-again starter Rich Hill put up a very good 3.32. But he only threw 136 innings last season. And he is 38. Hill right now is like the Mickey Mouse club on a Wednesday: Anything can happen.

The same could be somewhat said of 30-year old leftie Hyun-Jin Ryu, but at least his ERA will likely wind up in the threes.

That seems like a lot less than the Cubs and Astros. In fact, Los Angeles has the weakest pitching of any of these teams. And while their home run hitting offense has some of the NL’s best young ballers, it suffers from too many players with low averages.

The Cream has Risen

Of course, that isn’t the soon-to-be 24-year old Corey Seager’s problem. The shortstop hit .295/.375/.479 and 22 home runs last year and is young enough to get better.

And the same is true for even younger 1B Cody Bellinger. He managed a slash of .267/.352/.581 in his truncated first campaign.

But the headline for his age 21 season was his 39 home runs in only 480 AB’s. If he can add 20 points to his batting average, he will join Seager and 3B Justin Turner as resident superstars.

Turner will be playing this year at 33 and so has every reason to expect a similar outcome to last year, when he hit .322/.415/.530 and 21 home runs, even with a late start to 2018.

If so, he will once again be a part of a line-up with six players likely to hit at least 20 home runs each.

But while the Dodgers have plenty of power, their overall batting was average: Center fielder Joc Pederson (.212); 2B Logan Forsythe (.224); UT Enrique Hernandez (.215); catcher Yasmani Grandal (.247); and, enigmatic RF Yasiel Puig (.263).

There is still plenty of talent here to keep this team in the Supergroup. And they are taking a small step backward this year to be able to spend a lot next year. Imagine this offense with Nationals slugger Bryce Harper; Dodgers fans are.

That might make them more of a favorite next year, but they look like the most suspect of the NL’s win-now teams for 2018.

The Indians share a similar designation in the AL, the difference being that Cleveland’s window is just about to close.

The Cleveland Indians

While Cleveland still has plenty to win it all this year, 2018 is likely their last year as a top contender. And they are even more top-heavy than the Dodgers.

Their offense, again like that of L.A., features some great young hitters led by all-world SS Francisco Lindor. His slash of .273/.337/.505 with 33 home runs is even more exciting as he collected it all at the age of 23. Again, he is likely to be better in 2018.

Perhaps he will take the same kind of step that third baseman Jose Ramirez took.

2017 saw the then 24-year old post his second consecutive season hitting over .300 (.318/.374/.583) while almost tripling his home run total, going from 11 to 29.

Those two, along with Edwin Encarnacion and his team-leading 38 home runs, form as a potent middle of the order as almost any team in the American League. And they will add C Francisco Mejia and his dynamic switch-hitting talents at some point this season.

After that, though, are several goods but not great players. There are those who hit for average but have no power—Michael Brantley, Lonnie Chisenhall—and those who hit for neither, including Yan Gomes, Jason Kipnis, Bradley Zimmer and Roberto Perez. That’s a lot of guys.

And the pitching is equally out of balance.

What Would Price and Sale think About This?

The Indians might have the best one-two punch in the AL with Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco.

Kluber is the definition of an Ace, pitching 203 innings last year, his fourth in a row over 200, while posting an AL-leading 2.25 ERA. That was good enough for his second Cy Young in the last four years.

Meanwhile, the fourth-place finisher in the AL Cy Young voting Carrasco also pitched 200 innings. All he did last year was finish with a 3.29 ERA as well as a tie with Kluber for most wins in the AL (18).

There are top-two combinations in the AL that might be as good as Cleveland’s, but none that are better. But after those, the staff gets a lot more pedestrian.

Over-hyped Trevor Bauer has never pitched below a four ERA, while Josh Tomlin almost earned a five last year (4.98). And the delayed Danny Salazar will bring his uninspiring ERA of 4.28 with him when he returns.

That leaves the Tribe with the unpredictable RHP Mike Clevinger to fill in. In his second season, he put up an excellent 3.11 in only 121 IP. But in his first year, his ERA was a not-so-great 5.26. So, which will the team get this year? That kind of question is not what a Super team wants.

The relief core will once again revolve around one of the best set-up men in the game, Andrew Miller, and his 1.44 2017 ERA. That should help Cody Allen get at least another 30 saves this season.

So, there is a lot to like especially as they play in the wreckage that is the AL Central. But they need to maximize their potential now.

Time to Circle the Wagons

And that’s because this is a team already falling apart. First, they let one of their best offensive players go—1B Carlos Santana and his 23 home runs—and replaced him with the ersatz Yonder Alonso. That’s subtraction by subtraction.

Next, both of their top two starters are in their thirties. And Edwin Encarnacion is 35. But the other reason Cleveland is likely spending its last year considered as a Super team is that other teams are and will continue to get better.

The Yankees, for example, added Giancarlo Stanton while the Astros added Gerrit Cole. And both already had more young talent. The latter can also be said of the Red Sox. Likewise, the Twins and Angels are improving and might be willing to add more talent than the Indians in the off-season.

That makes it more imperative that this team wins it all this year than any other in the AL. In the NL, though, the team with that same impetus is the Washington Nationals.

The Washington Nationals

Of all these teams, Washington has been in a win-now mode the longest. They won their division for the first time in 2012, thereby kicking off this current run.

For comparison, the Dodgers would neither win their division nor make the playoffs for the first year of their winning ways until the following season, at which time the Yankees would start their version of a rebuild.

But along with being the most extended tenured team, they have also been the least successful.

The Nationals have routinely won their division but lost in the NLDS. That’s a trend they started in that very first year of 2012, and, as Claire McNear points out for the Ringer, what once was a vice has now become a habit:

The Nationals have won the bottom-heavy NL East in three of the past four seasons, and not by shallow margins: they took the division by 17, eight, and then 20 games, respectively. In each of those seasons, the Nats have then gone on to drop the NLDS, losing a crushing Game 5 in each of the last two.

Gift Wrapping

This year, the offense will once again be wrapped around one of baseball’s five best players in RF Bryce Harper, as it has since 2012.

Harper’s prodigious power and tremendous tools have had him in the MLB since he was 19. Meanwhile, Altuve did not make it to the majors until he was 21, and Aaron Judge didn’t make it until he was 24.

So far, all Bryce has done is be a five-time All-Star, win Rookie of the Year at 19 and MVP at 22. Last season he posted a .319/.413/.595 with 29 home runs in only 420 AB’s. And that wasn’t even close to his best year.

And Washington has always surrounded him with other talented offensive players; this year is no different.

MVP Candidates Everywhere You Look

Third baseman Anthony Rendon came into his own at 27 last season, hitting .301/.404/.533 with 25 home runs, while the speedy 24-year old SS Trea Turner stole 46 bases while getting caught only eight times.

The other side of the diamond was even more productive. 1B Ryan Zimmerman had a renaissance season, batting .303/.358/.573 to go with 36 home runs. Those were his best numbers by far in years, however, and he is unlikely to repeat them.

Daniel Murphy, on the other hand, seems able to do whatever he wants these days.

Slashing .322/.384/.543 with 23 home runs and an NL-leading 43 doubles is both astounding and de rigueur for Mr. Murphy. And as he will only be 33 this year, the Nats have excellent reasons to expect similar if slightly declining numbers.

To all of that, they will add team spark plug/lead-off hitter CF Adam Eaton (.297/.393/.462), just back from injury. That’s enough offense for any team.

But Washington has never neglected the pitching, either: Last season, the Nationals had three of the top six pitchers in the Cy Young voting.

And they still lost in the NLDS.

How?

That is not supposed to happen when you can send out sixth-place finisher Gio Gonzalez (2.96 ERA), Stephen Strasburg, whose ERA of 2.52 was good enough for third, and Cy Young winner Max Scherzer (2.51).

The most significant difference between those last two is not so much their ERA’s but their IP: 175/200.

After those three you have workmanlike innings eater Tanner Roark (4.67)…and not much else. Neither Eric Fedde nor A.J. Cole has the experience or available innings even to cover all the fifth starts this year. And that is just the first problem for the Nats in 2018.

Second is the mystery of why they haven’t won in the past.

Is it because there has been so much turnover in the manager position? And/or, is Harper a bad guy to have in the locker room? His attitude suggests it but far from gives proof to the assertion.

We can all see that one culprit is the untimely injuries to Strasburg. Does that make him soft? And does that affect the team? When the team botched his innings limit in 2012, how much did his agent demand they not overuse his client?

Whatever the problems have been, even last year, they have to get solved now. Harper is a free agent, and the Nationals are not known for spending a lot on non-pitchers. Plus, many of their starting players are already in their 30’s: Matt Wieters, Zimmerman, Murphy, Gonzalez, Scherzer, and Roark.

It looks like time to rebuild.

Planning Ahead

In fact, that might be why the team has not added another pitcher, as the Nats are favored to win their division easily, although not as comfortably as last year, they probably feel they can afford to wait. They have a huge payroll already, and there is always the chance that disaster strikes and the team tanks.

If for some reason they are out of it by July, which is highly unlikely, they can trade Harper for a fortune in prospects. But if they are in it, as they should be, they can get a front-line starter for less than half of his salary for the season.

And the clock is ticking.

Because either the 2019 Nationals are going to spend more money on Harper than they have ever spent, and still find a way to surround him with enough talent to win the World Series, or they are going to start their next rebuild around top-ten OF prospect Victor Robles.

The Red Sox are not in quite that position, but they’re close.

The Boston Red Sox

The Sox find themselves in a similar position to the Nationals, albeit one not as dire or certain. There is a chance that this is Boston’s last year in their current incarnation, but they could extend it another year or two.

After that, they will have too many free agents and homegrown players starting to get paid to sustain the current roster. And an aging Dustin Pedroia to deal with.

Also, like the Nats, Boston keeps winning its division but losing in the divisional round. The last two postseasons combined have seen them win precisely one playoff game. If they don’t do more damage this year, the idea of dismantling will take real shape.

Readers of my ones and zeroes are more familiar with the Sox than these other teams. I recently wrote a piece on the Sox and Yankees pitching staffs that covered most of this same ground; here’s an excerpt:

Just a Smidge

Chris Sale was healthy last season and deserves to be first mentioned here. The lefties’ 214.1 IP led the AL, as did his 308 SO. Consider that he posted a 2.90 ERA and it becomes little wonder he finished second in the CY Young voting. And right behind him is perhaps fellow Cooperstown inductee, LHP David Price. Two years ago Price was as good as any pitcher in baseball, throwing 220 innings while posting a league-best 2.45 ERA. Next up for Boston is yet another left-handed pitcher Drew Pomeranz. Now becoming one of the most reliable pitchers in the game, Drew posted his second straight season with an ERA of 3.32. And once again he pitched roughly 170 innings. Pomeranz figures to give the Sox another impressive and imposing season. That seems likely to be the case for RHP Rick Porcello as well. The enigmatic pitcher has been alternating great years and bad for five years, making his 4.65 ERA from last year a tantalizing promise for 2018 — especially if he can match his numbers from 2016.

And here are some things I didn’t say in that piece.

A Top to Bottom Team

The Sox offense not only looks to have a great combination of speed and power, but also every reason to believe that several of the team’s best players will be improved this year. And as I pointed out, that could give them four 20-20 players.

SS Xander Bogaerts is just now entering his age 25 season; 3B Rafael Devers is 21; LF Andrew Benintendi is 23; and, the best of them all, RF Mookie Betts, is 25. My money is on Bennie and the Betts to have the most significant improvements and impact on the team.

And they finally did add LF J.D. Martinez. All he did was hit .303/.376/.690 with 45 home runs last year. His addition, along with the improvement from the Baby Beaners (or should that be Beanie Babies?), could vault their offense from underwhelming to top-tier.

That will pair nicely with what could be both the best one-two combo in baseball and the best overall starting staff in the AL. And let’s not forget top-five closer Craig Kimbrel. Added all up, it might equal the Red Sox as WS champions this year.

That’s the good news.

There are Five Tools

But there is bad news here as well. Roster construction and talent development have been uneven, leaving hard questions and tough decisions. No matter what Bogaerts turns into, for instance, it is not likely to be a gold glove winner.

And while Pedroia will come back feeling and playing like the younger version of himself, he will still be 34, as will first basemen and already defensively-challenged Hanley Ramirez.

And new manager Alex Cora has already said that Martinez, who is well below league average on defense, will play a lot of left field. What does that mean for the team’s best center fielder, Jackie Bradley? Boston has been trying Betts in center recently, putting Bennie in left.

That could work, but there is still a lot of defense being sacrificed in the infield and outfield. However, if the starters remain relatively healthy, and the combination of speed and power this team is capable of producing materializes, the Sox will win their third straight division.

What happens after this season will determine if the team sees stars such as Price and Pomeranz leave the club. Without replacing them, or everyone stays in place as a follow-up to their 2018 championship run.

Of course, the other problem for the Sox is that they are the only team so far that plays in the same division as another on this list. That means we are headed south for our last stop.

The New York Yankees

The Yankees are of course the other team that plays in the same division as another win-now team. But whereas the Sox started their time in this category in 2016, the Yankees are entering it just this year. That makes them the latest entrant of all the teams.

They like the Sox have an excellent pitching staff, but one that is also thin. Again I will go back to my previous piece:

RHP Luis Severino was third in the CY Young voting last year. And among all of his sterling 2017 numbers, perhaps his hits to innings pitched is his most impressive: 150/193. But if any want to argue that his ERA (2.98) or strikeouts-to-walks ratio (230/51) is more telling, we won’t let it come between us. Masahiro Tanaka and fellow righty had the definition of an up and down season last year, routinely alternating between great starts and horrible ones. The two men reversed roles, however, when it counted most. Sevvy started four games…but his postseason ERA of 5.63 could not have been what he or the Yankees wanted. Tanaka, meanwhile, became the Hiro the Yankees needed. He started three games, pitched 25 total innings, and left an ERA that can only be found under a microscope (1.44). Backing them up is Sonny Gray, CC Sabathia, and Jordan Montgomery, giving the Yankees a nice blend of youth and experience.

Maybe the Best Bullpen

The Yankees can roll out not only a starting five that can potentially compete with any but also one of the best bullpens in baseball.

They have their own top-five closer in Aroldis Chapman (3.22), just as the Sox do with Kimbrel. But they also have one of the best set-up men/replacement closers with David Robertson (1.84), as the Indians do with Miller.

Dellin Betances is too much of a question mark to continue to list him as elite, but the Yankees still have tremendous depth here.

But whereas some teams on this list see pitching as their most prominent strength, no doubt the Yankees have to view their offense as their best asset. If you remember my comment about the middle of the Indians order, I described it as almost as good as any in the AL; I was thinking specifically about the Yankees.

The Yankees have Power and Speed

The team’s long-known moniker as the Bronx Bombers is probably about to be re-born in spectacular fashion this year as the Yankees have four players in the middle of their order capable of hitting at least 40 home runs: Judge, Stanton, Bird, and Sanchez.

And another one, Didi, capable of hitting more than 20. That is five of the nine spots in the lineup.

Surrounding them will be plenty of team speed in Brett Gardner, Tyler Wade, and Aaron Hicks. The offense for the Yankees looks scary good for so many reasons.

And whereas their dominant but thin pitching staff is akin to that of the Sox, their roster construction and player development had worked out more like the Astros, at least until this year. Gregorius, Gardner, Judge, Bird, Neil Walker, and Sanchez are all at least league average on both offense and defense.

Although Aaron Hicks brings excellent defense, he has a lot to prove offensively.

But the real question mark is Stanton in left. He has butchered more than a few plays this spring. How much time he spends out there and how well he does might have tremendous impact on the Yankees big plans.

These are not the only questions the Yankees face, though.

More than Cautious Optimism

Judge had a tremendous season (.284/.422/.627 and 52 home runs) but it was just one. He needs to prove it again this year as he wouldn’t be the first player to suffer a sophomore slump. Jordan Montgomery is in the same situation as baseball history is littered with pitchers who had great debuts, and then nothing.

Conversely, Tanaka must go out and prove that last year’s performance was an aberration, and go back to being the Ace his is supposed to be. And was in the playoffs.

However, the Yankees have two pluses that combine to give them an advantage over most of the clubs on this list: Top prospects coming up this year as well as others to trade, and money to spend at the deadline.

The Dodgers have both Urias and Buelher, but their wallets are empty and no other prospects to trade. Robles for the Nationals is just starting his time at Triple-A, as is ninth-ranked RHP Forrest Whitly for the Astros. But both clubs are likely to spend at the deadline.

Mejia looks like an impact bat for the Indians, but he seems like the only upgrade coming for the Tribe. And any shopping they do in July is likely to be in the bargain basement. The Red Sox, meanwhile, look like they are out of both money and prospects, at least for this year.

Finally, the Cubbies have no prospects anywhere in MLB’s top 100 but might spend some money if they have to.

That puts the Yankees in a much more advantageous position.

Still a Bumper Crop

They have number five prospect 2B Gleyber Torres one hot hitting streak away from the lineup, followed by the potent bat of 3B Miguel Andujar, undeservedly ranked 65th. Remember that Gary Sanchez went from the 69th rated prospect in 2014 to drop out of the top 100 in 2015.

Andujar might not have that kind of bat, but he is still being slighted in the same way.

And the team has made no secret that their plan has been and still is to save $10-15 million to spend at the deadline. That could bring one or even two impact arms.

The Yankees will start the season with what looks like the best offense in baseball and then make it better. They will begin with a pitching staff that might not be as good as Boston’s but still looks to be in the top five in the AL. That could very well mean wresting the AL East from the Sox and scheduling another championship parade.

That only leaves one question: Which of these super seven is the best?

What Harper Wants

It probably makes sense to separate them at this point, and so we will start with the National League.

The Dodgers seem like the least of the three. While Kershaw is equal to Scherzer as the best two pitchers, Los Angeles does not have the one-through-five the other two teams do. And while I would want the Dodgers young players over the Nationals’, I can trust the experienced Nats’ hitters more this year.

That puts it down to Chicago and Washington. Chicago has a lesser pitching staff than Washington, but they could be better balanced offensively. And they have the best manager in the game.

The difference, though, is likely to be Harper in his walk year. A monster season like he had in 2015—in which he hit .330/.460/.649 with his 42 home runs and 118 runs scored, both leading the league—is possible. And that makes the Nats the top team in the National League.

Thing are a little closer in the American League.

Concentrated Pitching

Cleveland has to be last among these four great teams, even though their top two starters can beat any other two in the game. One of the problems for Cleveland, though, is that the same can be said of Boston and New York, although Boston has to have the edge there.

And their offense, built to be ferocious just last year, now looks tame next to both Houston’s and New York’s. Losing Carlos Santana while the Sox and Yankees each added power bats further devalues the team.

Boston comes in next on this list for a few key reasons, roster construction being chief amongst them. There are just far too many trade-off players on this bloated roster.

Also, Fenway does not play well for J.D. Martinez, and will not necessarily highlight his strengths as a hitter.

However, this is a comparison of the best teams in the AL. Boston’s starting staff should end as the best of the bunch, and that alone could carry them to another division crown and deep into the playoffs.

But top to bottom, with all things considered including defense and lack of possible additions and upgrades, the Red Sox look like the third best team in the AL.

That just leaves the Yankees and Astros.

Houston Has Few Problems

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Pitching is close, as the Astros get the edge in starters but the Yankees have a better bullpen. And I love the Astros attitude in camp. They have an edge to them and will not be a one-year wonder.

However, the addition of the National League MVP to the Yankees offense puts this team in a different category.

We saw what a healthy Astros offense could do last year. But we still haven’t seen what Bird, Sanchez, and Judge can do together for a full season, let alone with Stanton in the midst. That might be something we haven’t seen before.

Last year at this time I previewed the AL East. I picked Boston to win the division and the Yankees to come in second, with a real chance at the Wild Card.

This year, the Yankees are the team on top.

Not only because their offense might be a modern-day murderers row, but also because they have impact players waiting in the wings. Add their financial ability to bring in a key player or two in July, or the prospects to trade for one, and the Bronx Bombers look like the team to beat.

Next: Yankees Manager Aaron Boone is Coming in to Focus

I have no doubt that the label of the homer is about to be applied; that’s a reasonable accusation. And it means as much as my insights, which is to say nothing. The only real truth is that the season will finally soon be upon us and we have no fewer than seven Super teams to enjoy in 2018.

I’ve said it before: Baseball is in its glory. And whether the Yankees or Red Sox or Nationals prove to be the best, it is a great time to be a fan of any of these powerhouse teams.

But especially for the one that does win now, and their soon to be super excited fans.